I would have loved to have stayed in the competition longer, but it felt good that I met both the challenge and my fears about doing the show. Those fears revolved around the fact that it is a competition, and not being a real dancer, I knew that I would have to work harder. I was also wondering if I could meet the physical and mental challenges. Getting your feet to move is not as simple as being an actor learning your lines. It’s a whole different ball game. If I make a mistake in my one-woman show, I always find a way to have fun with it, but when you have a dance partner, it throws everything off. On two occasions the audience was cheering so loudly at the beginning of our number that I couldn’t hear the cue to begin the first step.
Luckily, I was blessed to have Corky Ballas as my partner. I knew he was a great teacher and had been a world champion many times. He was very patient. When I’d mess up, he’d say, “Florence Agnes Henderson, you know this, now come on!” That’s what I get for telling him my middle name. He sounded just like my mother.
Corky was fifty, so he worked intelligently and knew my body well after a short time. He put me through a routine depending on what movements were required in a particular dance. For the rhumba, we did deep knee bends and varied the pace on the treadmill and did sideways and backwards movements too, before the hours of actual rehearsal would begin. “Okay, that’s enough for today,” he would tell me when it was time to stop.
I never wanted to quit. “Can’t we do it one more time?”
“What’s the point if you injure yourself?”
There was also pressure because the others had three weeks to learn their routine for the first show, whereas I got started late and only had five days to prepare. It was scary to learn that dance that quickly. I care a lot about what I do. At night, I would lie awake going over the steps because it wasn’t something I do all the time. “Oh my God, I don’t know this well enough. What am I going to do?” That insecurity made me feel again how it was when I was a young kid starting out in the business. I’m always saying, “I could have done better.” I’ve always been that way, very self-critical and never satisfied with anything when it comes to my performance.
Dancing with the Stars explains a lot about why I am still so passionate and excited about my career and why each day is such an adventure.
My formula is simple: Stay open to the unexpected. Learn to let go of your self-limiting thinking. Tomorrow, something unexpected is going to happen that is exciting. Let the experiences come. Don’t be afraid to say yes a lot. Be grateful and forgiving. Stay flexible. Know that there’s always another way. Keep going and never stop pushing the envelope of your potential. And stay courageous in your quest for inner peace and a life full of love.
Lastly, in case you’re wondering what happened to that galloping horse, here’s an update. The horse is alive and well. The horse still loves to run. It still enjoys being in the game, but with one important distinction. It doesn’t have to win every race.
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction: It Will Never Be Noticed on a Galloping Horse
Chapter 1: The Faith of a Child
Chapter 2: Singing for My Supper
Chapter 3: Growing Up Fast
Chapter 4: Wide-Eyed and Confident
Chapter 5: Wish You Were Here
Chapter 6: Hitting the Road
Chapter 7: The Big Break
Chapter 8: Yes, I Was a Virgin!
Chapter 9: The Today Show Girl
Chapter 10: Do Re Mi
Chapter 11: The Girl Who Came to Supper Loses Her Appetite
Chapter 12: The Pill
Chapter 13: The “No Door Act”
Chapter 14: Detours and Other Digressions
Chapter 15: Hollywood…Finally
Chapter 16: Brady-monium
Chapter 17: Good Help Is Hard to Find…
Chapter 18: Days of Wine and Roses…and Clam Chowder and Chicken
Chapter 19: Cutting Through the Layers to the Truth
Chapter 20: D-Day
Chapter 21: The Dragonflies
Chapter 22: The Horse Stays in the Game
Photographs
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by F.H.B. Productions, Inc.
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Unless otherwise stated, all photos are from the Florence Henderson Collection.
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First eBook Edition: September 2011
ISBN: 978-1-455-50491-6
